A happy dilemna ? Need advice guys

Bear with me guys, this is a long post, but i am completely torn here..

I took the GMAT in Jan 2007 and got a pretty good score at 770. I was planning to apply for admission into programs starting fall 2008.

I just got offered a promotion in my company, moving from sales to ops and supply chain management, getting the opportunity to manage a team of 5 ppl..and a larger bottomline. the role itself provides deeper experience in south east asia. The extra money will also be quite handy..but nothing that will help offset the cost of an mba substantially.

Here is the catch. I have not revealed to my company yet that I plan to do an mba.. If I take up this role in september, it is going to be very difficult to get a good recommendation from my new boss or my old one for applications in october.. ..also..i feel morally very obliged, coz the new boss did fight a pitched political battle for me.. I can also rely on a good recommendation from the new boss a year down the line..

My questions are as follows

1. If I Postpone the MBA to look for admission in fall 2009
- will my score be considered recent enough in 2009 ?
- does my application look significantly better with one year of managerial experience ?

2. If i quit now, and bum around for a year (want to spend some time travelling and writing, always promised myself i would spend a year doing that ) , would that hurt my mba application (which i would submit this october)

3. Would a one year MBA program make more sense one year down the line vs the american two year program ? ( i got an invite from LBS..london seemed very attractive ! )